20 Random Facts about Dennis Creevey
by Technomad
Summary: An examination of a little-seen character. Contains spoilers for Thanfiction's "Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness," and is compliant with that continuity.


20 Random Facts about Dennis Creevey

by Technomad

(Compliant with Thanfiction's DAYD universe)

1.

His nickname in the family was "Ray," because ever since he was born, his sunny disposition and lovable ways had been like a ray of sunshine. He never used the nickname outside of the family home, even at Hogwarts, but until his family came to an end, that was what he was called when among them.

2.

He was a demon card player. Ever since his first attempt at playing with his friends, he just seemed to have a natural talent for any card game---rummy, poker, slap, war, or what-have-you. Once he was at Hogwarts, he took to Exploding Snap with a passion equalling Hermione Granger's passion for study. His roommates learned quickly that getting into a "friendly little game of cards" with Dennis was one quick way to lose all their pocket money.

3.

He had always idolized his big brother. To him, Colin was an ideal being, and finding out that he, too, was magical was like being raised to the nobility. Being Sorted into the same house as his beloved brother was like having all his dreams come true at once.

4.

He adored cooking. From the time he was old enough to see over the counters, he had insisted on "helping mummy cook," and had become a fairly proficient cook in his own right by the time he received his Hogwarts letter. While the house-elves' cooking was, he had to admit, superb, he still privately thought that some of his own specialties were as good as anything they could make, and he sometimes went down to the kitchens at school to talk recipes.

5.

He honestly enjoyed Potions class. It wasn't that different from cooking---get the ingredients, follow the recipe, and magic happened. He was one of the very few Gryffindors of whom Snape did not disapprove, partly because he never caused mischief in the Potions dungeon.

6.

He had a huge secret crush on Luna Lovegood. She was in a different house, and a year ahead of him, but he thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. He never had the courage to talk to her, though, even before he stopped talking.

7.

One thing he missed at Hogwarts was music. He had sung treble in the school choir before receiving his Hogwarts letter, and he was quite disappointed to find out that the new, wonderful, magical school he was now attending had nothing of the sort. He wanted to try to start one, but wasn't sure how to go about it.

8.

Until the Year of Darkness, he didn't fear anything in the magical world. It was all like a wonderful dream, and he had found out that even things that seemed scary generally didn't want to hurt him. A big part of his reaction to his parents' murder was the fact that it drove home that there were things in the magical world that were dark, scary and would hurt even those who couldn't possibly threaten them.

9.

He would sneak down to visit Hagrid when he could. He had figured out quite quickly that Hagrid was essentially a very lonely man, and Dennis wanted to try to cheer him up. Even when Hagrid was down in the dumps, an appearance by Dennis would usually perk him up quickly.

10.

He never knew that quite a few girls in his year and below had crushes on him. He just saw the "same old face-type face" when he looked in the mirror, and couldn't quite figure out why so many girls his age or younger giggled and blushed when he went by. He tried asking one once, but her answers made absolutely no sense; he just decided that girls were rather strange.

11.

He wanted to be a chef when he left Hogwarts. He'd eaten in the Leaky Cauldron, and down in Hogsmeade when he had an afternoon to go, and thought that the wizard world needed a truly first-rate restaurant. He had spent a lot of time in History of Magic doodling ideas for names and logos, working out menus, and drawing up floor plans.

12.

His best class was Arithmancy. While he did quite well in Potions, Charms and Transfiguration, in Arithmancy he shone brilliantly. Only Hermione Granger had had higher grades in that class in living memory.

13.

He missed Muggle electronics; in most ways, he thought the wizard world was a huge improvement over his family's rather humdrum Muggle life, but if he could have had his electronic games at Hogwarts, he'd have been completely content. As it was, he had to stick to cards.

14.

He was quite proud of his family's war record. From the time he was little, he had seen the medals in frames on his family's walls---his father's medals from his time in the Malayan Emergency, his grandfather's medals from World War II, his great-grandfather's medals from World War I and the Boer War, and even some buttons from the uniform his great-great-grandfather had worn in the Zulu War. He sometimes wondered if he could live up to their example, when the time came.

15.

He was fascinated by the new things they were learning in the DA. Every time he learned a new spell, or how to deal with a particular attack, he felt ten feet tall.

16.

He hated cruelty and unfairness. Even if he'd been as pure-blooded as his (distant) cousin Draco Malfoy, he'd have been utterly against the Death Eaters and Voldemort, if only for the way they treated others.

17.

He never shared his brother's fascination with Harry Potter, and what he heard about the "junior paparazzo" phase that Colin went through his first year at Hogwarts utterly mortified him. Several times, he thought about privately apologizing to Harry for Colin's behavior, on behalf of the entire Creevey family, and explaining that Colin normally knew better how to behave, but the chance somehow never came.

18.

He distrusted the Weasley Twins rather intensely. He had never been fond of practical jokes, and the twins' attitude toward others cemented his distrust. While he was as pleased as everybody else about the prank war they waged against Umbridge, he wasn't at all sorry they were gone; he fit the profile of one of their victims/experimental subjects all too well, and he didn't think as highly as they apparently did of their ability to reverse any unfortunate unforeseen side-effects of their actions.

19.

He didn't stop talking because he'd been traumatized. He stopped talking because he was so unbearably angry, he was afraid that if he opened his mouth and let words come out, it would be a stream of the foulest curses anybody had ever heard---and he had learned at Hogwarts that words had real power.

20.

He was relieved to die. Ever since his parents' murders, his life had seemed like an unbearable burden, and watching his brother killed in front of his eyes removed the only reason he hadn't put his wand to his head and ended it all---his death couldn't distress Colin any more.


End file.
